Last month in April also, rigged safety tests were identified involving Toyota Yaris Ativ and Perodua Axia
In a new development related to safety tests irregularities at Daihatsu, the company has found fraudulent practices in the safety test certification process. The affected cars are Toyota Raize and Daihatsu Rocky, both of which are manufactured by Daihatsu. The affected units are the ones that were meant for overseas markets.
Till the time the investigation is completed, dispatch and sales of Toyota Raize and Daihatsu Rocky have been stopped. Both Toyota and Daihatsu are working with stakeholders to identify where things went wrong. Efforts are also being made to ensure that such serious irregularities do not happen again.
Toyota Raize, Daihatsu Rocky – Rigged safety test procedures
Irregularities with safety test certification process for Toyota Raize and Daihatsu Rocky were discovered during an in-house inspection. The irregularities have been noted in pole side collision test (UN-R135) for these cars. As per standard protocol, the pole side collision test has to be performed on both sides of the car. However, the test was not conducted as per the rulebook.
Toyota and Daihatsu are calling it a serious breach of consumer trust. The matter is being investigated to understand how such irregularities occurred and who could be responsible for the same. A total of 56,111 units of Toyota Raize and 22,329 units of Daihatsu Rocky have been impacted by the fraudulent safety test certification process. As of now, no directions have been provided to owners who may be using these cars. Toyota and Daihatsu will probably announce the next steps in coming days.
Apart from identifying the people who may be responsible, overall impact of rigged safety certification process is also being assessed. While it may seem that both sides of the car are the same, crash test results may vary based on the structure of the car. Until both sides are put to the same test, the certification process cannot be complete. That’s what seems to be lacking in this case.
Toyota expresses apologies to all stakeholders
With back-to-back safety related irregularities, it is apparent that significant improvements are needed at Daihatsu. Toyota has apologised to its customers and dealers and promised to conduct a thorough investigation. Daihatsu had started operations in 1951 and Toyota has been consistently increasing its stake in the company since 1967. In 2016, Daihatsu became a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation.
As the investigations are underway, it is possible that more such irregularities may emerge in the near future. The irregularities found in April 2023 were of a more serious nature. It was found that a notch was installed only in test vehicles to achieve compliance with safety tests.
This notch was not used in production models. The illegal modification was done to reduce the risk of injuries arising from deployment of side airbags. Fortunately, none of the affected units in use have reported injuries linked to deployment of side airbags.
